Opto-electronic Sensor System for Laboratory Measurement of Planter Seed Spacing with Small Seeds
✍ Scribed by Y. Lan; M.F. Kocher; J.A. Smith
- Book ID
- 102574285
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 1999
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 285 KB
- Volume
- 72
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0021-8634
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✦ Synopsis
An opto-electronic sensor system for measuring seed spacing uniformity with different types of seeds is described in this paper. It consisted of a rectangular photogate block (124;92 mm) with 24 phototransistors (diameter, 3 mm) receiving light beams from 24 lightemitting diodes (diameter, 3 mm) opposite them, a digital input/output board in a personal computer, and power supplies. The opto-electronic system was tested by comparing seed spacing measurements obtained from the opto-electronic system with measurements of the same seed spacings obtained from a grease belt test stand. The tests were conducted with different types of seeds including regular-pelleted (diameter, 3)8-4)5 mm), mini-pelleted (diameter, 3)2-4)0 mm), and medium-encrusted sugarbeet seeds (3)2-3)6 mm in diameter by 1)8-2)6 mm in thickness), and pelleted chicory seeds (diameter, 2)8-3)3 mm). Results showed that the adjusted opto-electronic seed spacings were not significantly different from the same seed spacings measured with the grease belt test stand. The opto-electronic sensor system worked well to obtain 508 seed spacings with regular-pelleted and minipelleted sugarbeet seeds and pelleted chicory seeds. The opto-electronic sensor system missed two seeds and detected two ''phantom'' seeds out of 170 seed spacings with the medium-encrusted sugarbeet seed.